Welcome back to the LiverKick.com rankings. These rankings are an attempt to break down the top 10 fighters in four different weight classes - Heavyweight, for fighters above the 85kg limit, Middleweight, for fighters at the 70-72.5kg limit, and Lightweight, for fighters at the 60-63.5kg limit. Our rankings are based on in-ring accomplishments and recent wins and losses. We hope they reflect where these fighters currently stand, although we recognize that all rankings are inherently subjective. Rankings are compiled by Rian Scalia and Dave Walsh.

November 2012

We rank lightweight as 60-63.5kg. We understand that some of these fighters fight at different ends of this weight range than others (some fight at 60kg, some at 63kg) and while that is a big difference in terms of weight, it's simply the most practical way to rank this weight class. What makes his weight class so difficult to rank is that almost all of the fighters have wins and losses over each other, making it a very competitive weight class.

Note that these are kickboxing rankings and do not incorporate Muay Thai in any way. All criteria used to rank these fighters is from kickboxing matches only.

Since we first compiled these rankings in September, there's been quite a bit of movement. First and foremost, Masaaki Noiri remains in the #1 spot, reinforcing that by having defeated Yetkin Ozkul, ranked #5 at the time at Krush.24 on November 10.

Karim Bennoui jumps up to the #2 spot, with a win on November 24 over Thomas Adamandopoulos, ranked #6 at the time of the win. Bennoui hopped over Masahiro Yamamoto, who dropped down to the #3 spot simply based on the convenience that Bennoui fought and beat a highly ranked opponent, and beat his second highly ranked opponent (Adamandopoulos twice) in a year's time, while Yamamoto's spot was based on his win over Javier Hernandez. Yamamoto has since not fought since that win, so Bennoui leap frogged him in the rankings.

Yuki skyrocketed up to the #4 spot with a big win over previously ranked #3 Javier Hernandez in October. Like Yamamoto, Yuki scored a very highly ranked win and thus his position in the Top 10 reflects that. Right under Yuki at #5 is Yetkin Ozkul, whose spot hasn't changed since September. Ozkul lost to #1 ranked Masaaki Noiri so he neither advances nor drops. Another fighter who remains in the same spot as September is Thomas Adamandopoulos, who lost to previously ranked #4 Karim Bennoui, and therefore does not drop due to losing to a higher ranked opponent whilst others have not gotten the necessary wins to advance past Ozkul and Adamandopoulos.

Javier Hernandez helped save his spot in the Top 10 with a win over Michael Peynaud on November 17, though he drops to #7. The win came after two losses to Masahiro Yamamoto and Yuki respectively, and a loss to Peynaud surely would've made him drop. At #8 is Pedro Felipe, also of Spain. He defeated previously #8 ranked Ruben Almeida to get his spot.

Hirotaka Urabe remains at #9 and the same goes for Kosuke Komiyama at #10. No one else had any ranked wins to surpass them.